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The European coders have inundated Google's forums saying their February fees (70 percent of sales) weren't received on March 7, as typically scheduled. Google seemed aware of the problem, placing a short message in red on the developer's console that some European developers hadn't been paid but its "Learn More" link didn't work, according to BBC News.

Google acknowledged that it was working on the complaints, but left no word on why it happened or the problem originated with Google or its partners. But most of the European developers were upset at the lack of direct contact -- and apparently having no one to yell at.

"They seem to think no direct contact is a good thing??? Crazy situation but that's how these big corps work and until it hurts their bottom line nothing will change," one developer named UKAPPS wrote on the Checkout Merchant forum.

When the "Learn More" link didn't work, the developers' ire rose. "Google needs to realise that investment in actual human support staff is essential; there are limits to the ways in which a system can be automated - however financially attractive that option may be," an unnamed developer told the BBC.

Google was conspicuously silent about the lack of staff or the problems, which makes us think that Google had outsourced the payroll. That often seems to be the case when a big company has no clue what's happened and lacks the capability to quickly change it, and Google is a huge, international company and lacks the agility to change things overnight. Eventually the Android app developers will be paid, but there's no promise that this won't happen again unless Google changes some of its procedures.